Blu-ray's look a little "fuzzy" at times

[stevedub40]

Hello, first time poster here. I have recently purchased a Panasonic 50" plasma 1080p. I have hooked up all my components with hdmi cables, including my direct TV, which looks really good in HD. My only issue is with blu-ray's, which I have a Magnavox NB500MG9 model. The blu-ray's look sort of grainy or fuzzy in some seens. I really noticed it quite a bit when watching 300 last night.

Is this common with blur-rays? I figured that the picture would be nearly perfect, but it doesn't seem this way. My DVD player which upconverts looks better then my blu-rays. If you guys have any tips or suggestions I would greatly apprecitate them. From some of my research it seems like it may be a calibration issue or possibly the need for a firmware upgrade, which I don't think is available for my model. I don't really think its calibration because everything else looks great, including my Xbox 360.

[owa]

Search for articles (threads) on grain. Since you listed 300, I'm guessing that's what you're seeing.

Search results: https://forum.blu-ray.com/search.php?searchid=1473618

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by stevedub40

Hello, first time poster here. I have recently purchased a Panasonic 50" plasma 1080p. I have hooked up all my components with hdmi cables, including my direct TV, which looks really good in HD. My only issue is with blu-ray's, which I have a Magnavox NB500MG9 model. The blu-ray's look sort of grainy or fuzzy in some seens. I really noticed it quite a bit when watching 300 last night.

Is this common with blur-rays? I figured that the picture would be nearly perfect, but it doesn't seem this way. My DVD player which upconverts looks better then my blu-rays. If you guys have any tips or suggestions I would greatly apprecitate them. From some of my research it seems like it may be a calibration issue or possibly the need for a firmware upgrade, which I don't think is available for my model. I don't really think its calibration because everything else looks great, including my Xbox 360.

300 is a very grainy film by nature. It was grainy in the theater as well. Grain was added in the post-process of the film on purpose to give it a distinct look.

What other blu rays are you watching? Remember, just like with DVD there are bad blu ray transfers. The simple fact that a movie is on blu ray doesn't guarantee a pristine picture. The studio has to make the effort of doing a good transfer of the film. Have you tried any of the Pixar blu ray films or something like King Kong, I'Robot, Iron Man, or Spiderman 3? These are some of the best of the best.

Also, you might want to consider tweaking your picture settings. It could be that your contrast and sharpness is set too high on your tv. I would suggest going to www.tweaktv.com. Search for your particular model # of TV and calibrate it according to their settings.

Another thing you might look at is going into your blu ray player menu settings and make sure you have all of the correct settings enabled. I haven't seen your particular player so I'm not sure what the menu even looks like for that model.

[aramis109]

Originally Posted by stevedub40

Hello, first time poster here. I have recently purchased a Panasonic 50" plasma 1080p. I have hooked up all my components with hdmi cables, including my direct TV, which looks really good in HD. My only issue is with blu-ray's, which I have a Magnavox NB500MG9 model. The blu-ray's look sort of grainy or fuzzy in some seens. I really noticed it quite a bit when watching 300 last night.

Is this common with blur-rays? I figured that the picture would be nearly perfect, but it doesn't seem this way. My DVD player which upconverts looks better then my blu-rays. If you guys have any tips or suggestions I would greatly apprecitate them. From some of my research it seems like it may be a calibration issue or possibly the need for a firmware upgrade, which I don't think is available for my model. I don't really think its calibration because everything else looks great, including my Xbox 360.

The picture does look perfect- it looks just as it should. Honestly, seeing you mention 300 means that you may need to do some reading on the subject. 300 is a prime example of a movie that has had digital noise/grain intentionally added to create a distinct look and feel to the film.

Check out the TV calibration thread: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=32738

As mentioned, do a search on grain on the forums. Turning down or off sharpness and turning off torch mode will help as well. Movies are not intended to look, nor are they going to look, like video games for the most part. There's an inherent nature to film that gives the detail and feel of a movie.

[andyman1970]

Chances are it's the movie. Blu-ray disc bring out all the details in a movie, the good and bad, like film grain. What you are see is actually the way it was intended to be seen and most likely the way it was shown at the theater. Some older movies have the film grain scrubbed away which gives it a smoother picture but at the cost of detail, this what's called DNR or digital noise reduction.

[owa]

Also, as Steelmaker and aramis109 mentioned, TV settings can effect it as well. For example, the detail enhancer on my Sony TV can make things look quite a bit sharper but if the movie is grainy, it makes the grain look much worse (I guess it's trying to enhance the detail on the grain ). As they mentioned, sharpness does the same thing. If you don't like grain, try turning the sharpness down like they suggested or if your TV has noise reduction settings, they may help but of course, things will then look kind of smooth and not as sharp.

[Another_Dude]

Turn the sharpness on your TV off (or very, very low).
Watch Cars on Blu-ray.

[stevedub40]

Wow you guys are fast. Thank you so much for all the great advice. As you can tell I am very new to all of this so I could definitely use a little more research to help get me versed in this subject.

I can't wait to get out of work now to try all the things you guys suggested. I also had a feeling about 300 as the look did seem intentional, guess I better do more research next time

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by stevedub40

Wow you guys are fast. Thank you so much for all the great advice. As you can tell I am very new to all of this so I could definitely use a little more research to help get me versed in this subject.

I can't wait to get out of work now to try all the things you guys suggested. I also had a feeling about 300 as the look did seem intentional, guess I better do more research next time

One piece of advice I can give you is look at the top right hand corner of the forums. there should be a search function with movies next to it. Enter a movie you've seen or want to see and then check the blu-ray review. The review should tell you whether or not the movie looks or sounds really good. Hope I helped.

[AppleCrumbDlite]

A little... Hot Fuzzy?


I'm sorry, I had too

[aramis109]

Compare your settings with the settings people have posted here: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=36091 as well as maybe doing a search over at AVSforums.com for your particular model #. That'll give you a great baseline for picture quality without putting in a lot of sweat equity on it.

[Cisco in HD]

Originally Posted by AppleCrumbDlite

A little... Hot Fuzzy?


I'm sorry, I had too

Hell I just might use that as my avatar seeing it's coming out on blu soon. Good one tho

[Scooby Blu]

Also go to this forum's blu ray ratings by reviewer


I am using the video tab.


The first few pages are 5 out of 5 on video. Enjoy !

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/top.p...g&sortby=video

[stevedub40]

Thanks againg guys, really good information here.

[onehothemi]

Get better glasses old tymer! jk... Processing the image, perhaps its a caching issue, or the disk when transfered from film was not as clear.